The limits of policy: Public acceptance and the reform of science and technology governance

The adoption of a variety of new regulatory approaches and concepts, decision making processes and educational frames over the last three decades can be interpreted as an attempt to improve social acceptability of the process of science and technology governance. However, as argued in this paper, neither the introduction of non-standard scientific methodology and precautionary policy, nor participatory decision making, nor increased scientific-technological education are likely to significantly improve social acceptance of science and technology governance. Such reforms may shift the focus of ongoing policy debates, but do not lead to closure. In consequence, more research is needed on the complex relationship between acceptance, trust, information and participation, the implications of non-standard methodology in regulatory decision making, as well as the different interpretations that stakeholders may give to key regulatory concepts.     

The Impact Of Technological Change On Employment: Evidence From A Firm-Level Survey Of Long Island Manufacturers

Recent studies of capital-skill complementarity suffer from several important empirical limitations and a theoretical framework that treats technological change as exogenous. This paper addresses some of these limitations using a new, detailed firm-level dataset on technology usage and labor composition. Based on two-stage estimation procedures, our results imply that technological change leads to a shift in labor composition and compensation in favor of white-collar workers.     

Technological spillover through industrial and regional linkages: Firm-level evidence from China

This paper provides new insights into the study of technology spillover effects through the interaction between industrial and spatial linkages. We develop a theoretical model that provides a useful modeling framework for spillover research, and then empirically test the model inferences using Chinese firm-level data. Input-output tables and spatial decay measurements are combined to construct the key spillover variables. Using seemingly unrelated regressions, the paper finds that vertical spillover effects are more significant than horizontal spillover effects, both within- and between-regions; regional characteristics have greater impacts on vertical spillovers than on horizontal spillovers; and regional spillover effects vary across different regions. Regional policies and regional endowments, including human capital, transportation infrastructure, and enterprise ownership, are crucial in explaining these heterogeneities in regional technology spillover. Our empirical results provide many policy implications including strengthening the connection between upstream and downstream industries and devoting more R&D to upstream industries.     

RegTech: Theory and Practice in Technology Driven Financial Regulation

As a disruptive innovation, FinTech has posed risks in the financial industry that are more unidentifiable, sweeping, disruptive and influential. Given these new developments, deeper regulatory reform has become necessary to safeguard national financial security, and prevent and dissolve financial risks. On March 11, 2021, the 14th Five-Year Plan1 endorsed by the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress stressed that China will improve the modern financial regulatory system and shore up our weaknesses in the regulatory system, and boost the application of regulatory technology and financial innovation risk assessment. This marks that the establishment of a technology-driven financial regulatory framework has been put on the agenda. Based on an analysis of the essential implications and drivers of RegTech innovation, this paper discusses the theoretical logic of RegTech innovation. Technology enables intelligent regulatory processes, efficient information processing and robust risk control. The restructuring of the regulatory system has revealed shifts in regulatory paradigms. These include a shift from passive response to proactive change, a shift toward positive interactions between regulators and industry players, as well as more close coordination among regulators. These changes have resulted in more adaptable and efficient regulation. After summarizing foreign experience and Chinese practice, this paper presents optimal pathways for RegTech innovation in China in the following aspects: consolidating the rule-of-law foundation for RegTech innovation, speeding up institutional reforms, improving policy services, strengthening infrastructure development, and building multiparty cooperation mechanisms. This study serves as a reference for building a technology-centric modern financial regulatory system and a sound environment for FinTech development.     

The ‘new economics’ and policies for financial stability

The purpose of this paper is to consider the policy implications of the ‘new economics’. The focus will be on financial stability as an objective of policy within a more general framework of policies. The theoretical framework upon which we base our policy conclusions is summarised to provide understandings of the operation of the economy and the need for policy interventions, before the main policy implications, the focus of this paper, are discussed. In doing so we argue that an important policy dimension, which has been ignored in the past, is financial stability, a new focus of monetary policy amongst other implications. The theoretical framework upon which we base our policy conclusions tries to avoid the problems encountered by the previously dominant paradigm ‘New Consensus in Macroeconomics’. It represents in this sense ‘new thinking in economics’.     

Intra-Industry Gaps in Technology and Investments in Technological Capabilities: Firm-level evidence from Chile

This paper develops a theoretical framework to analyse intra-industry gaps in technology, and tests it with enterprise-level data from a developing country. Following neoclassical theory, the existence of inter-firm technological gaps is explained by factor market segmentation that determines different factor prices and therefore different firms' technological choices. However, intra-industry gaps in technology may also result from the nature of the process of technological development, and from the different level of investments in technological capabilities.The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 338 industrial enterprises from Chile, and shows that it is possible to define technological thresholds, characterised by significant shifts in technology, independently of factor market segmentation. The analysis focuses on five major sectors: food processing, textile and garments, woodworking, metalworking and paper. Firms with different levels of technological complexity coexist within the same industry, and differences in technology are discrete, with different clusters sharing similar characteristics within the same industry. These results also have important policy implications for industrial development, which are drawn in a final section.     

从政治发展到政治转型——当代民主化进程研究的范式转移

在当代民主化进程研究中,从政治发展到政治转型的范式转移趋势日益明显。由于政治发展范式在基本假设上存在先天性缺陷,对现实的解释能力与对未来的预测能力逐渐枯竭,导致了这一范式的衰落。政治转型理论因其在研究主题、理论假设、理论期待、理论资源、研究方法等方面比政治发展范式更具优势,逐步成为新主流范式。中国政治学在当代民主化进程的研究中要想在理论上取得新突破,在实践上产生新影响,必须积极面对这场新的范式转移,借鉴和吸收政治转型理论范式,实现民主化进程研究分析框架、研究方法与研究策略的总体性转变。     

Hidden innovators: the role of non-R&D activities

Although R&D has been highlighted as the main source of firm-level innovations, a significant group of firms develop innovations without performing R&D activities. The primary goal of this study is to understand the sources of innovation in such firms. To accomplish this goal, we explore the role played by other, non-R&D activities that can lead to innovation – activities such as technology forecasting, design, use of advanced manufacturing technologies and training. Our empirical analysis is based on a representative panel of Spanish manufacturing firms. The results strongly support the view that non-R&D activities are critical factors in explaining both product and process innovations attained by any firm, especially in the case of firms not performing R&D. Academic, managerial, and policy implications are derived from these results.     

The Rise and Fall of National Allocative Planning in Australia

In 1979 the Australian Labor Party's supreme policy making body, Federal Conference, proposed that a future Labor government embark on an extensive program of economic planning. In addition to continuing Keynesian monetary and fiscal policy, the Conference argued in favour of the introduction of a more comprehensive form of stability planning, or incomes policy; partial allocative, or industry, planning; and a national allocative plan. Since coming to power in 1983, the Federal Government has introduced an incomes policy as well as a number of industry plans. However, it has rejected national allocative planning. In this article we discuss the differences between these forms of economic planning and analyse the reasons which might explain the Government's rejection of national allocative planning.     

Understanding the evolution and performance of water markets and allocation policy: A transaction costs analysis framework

Water markets and associated allocation policy reforms have struggled to achieve their intended goals in many water-stressed rivers, in part due to the institutional friction imposed by transition and transaction costs. This paper elaborates a transaction costs analysis framework to examine the evolution and performance of water markets and allocation policy reforms. This analysis rests on three pillars: i) a synthesis of three theoretical traditions of institutional analysis (Williamson, North, and Ostrom) often considered independently; ii) a framework to examine the types and interactions of transaction costs in market-based water allocation over time; and iii) an illustrative analysis of three large river basins – the Colorado, Columbia and Murray–Darling – with varying levels of success in market-based water policy reforms. The resulting framework accounts for water's complexity as an economic good. This framework and the case studies lead to the identification of several policy implications including the need for: a multiphase sequencing of reform, strategic investment in institutional transition costs, and institutional choices that preserve future flexibility to adjust water rights and diversion limits to manage social and environmental externalities.     

Technology diffusion and environmental regulation: the adoption of natural gas-fired combined cycle generating units

Even though environmental policy can affect the path of technology diffusion, the economics literature contains limited empirical evidence of this relationship. This paper provides insight into the technology adoption decisions of electric generating firms. Specifically, the diffusion of combined cycle (CC) generating units is examined. This technology is ‘environmentally friendly’ in that, it is cleaner and more efficient than alternative generating units. The empirical model explores the decision to adopt a CC generating unit and the extent to which the technology is adopted in response to environmental regulations imposed on producers. Zero-inflated models are used to evaluate adoption decisions at the plant-level as well as the firm-level. This research shows that environmental regulation has a significant effect on technology choice and the extent of adoption in this industry. Findings suggest that the stringency of regulations that control the building of new generating units is particularly influential for established power plants.     

Shifting the strategic paradigm: the case of the catalytic converter

The formulation and implementation of technology strategies by firms are closely and critically interrelated with the rate and direction of technological advance. Policy has an increasingly important role in this technology strategy process, such as in the provision of increasingly stringent guidelines for paths of developement, as in the case of environmental legislation on the reduction of undesiable automotive exhaust emissions. Drawing on evidence from the automotive industry, with a particular focus on catalytic converter technology, this paper considers the paradigmatic qualities of firms' technology strategies. It examines aspects of shifts in strategic paradigms and their technological and organizational effects. It is particularly concerned with the interrelation between firm strategy and government policy, and the integration of environmental pressures into the firms processes that ultimately determine paths of technological development and competitive performance in the automotive industry.     

INNOVATION AND COMPETITION POLICY*

This paper discusses the issue of competition policy and innovation. First, a short review on the theoretical analysis of competition and innovation is provided, relying on the recent book by Aghion and Griffith (2005 ). Then, we examine how such innovation related issues as collaborative research, patent pool, merger in the technology intensive sector and bundling in the software industry are treated under Japan's Anti‐Monopoly Act. We contend that traditional competition policy framework is capable of dealing with innovation related issues but there are several points that should be kept in mind when competition policy deals with innovation related issues.     

MEDICAL RESEARCH AND GENETIC RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF TAXOL

Commercial development of the anti-cancer drug taxol has involved a complex set of interlocking research agreements. This paper explores the implications of such agreements and discusses diverse policy issues surrounding taxol development. Among these are forest management, species preservation, intellectual property rights, and the economics of biomedical research. Advances in genetic research increasingly have linked natural resource and technology policy issues. Institutional innovations in public/private research arrangements play a vital role in biotechnology development but are poorly understood. Policymakers need formal analyses of such agreements in order to evaluate complex research programs.     

The Gender Impact of Social Protection Policies: A Critical Review of the Evidence

Abstract

Over the course of the neoliberal era, social protection policies have been transformed dramatically; these changes have had profound gender implications. Since the early 1980s, welfare state regimes around the world have shifted away from ‘universalism' towards ‘targeting'. More recently, there has been a further shift—especially in industrialized countries—away from the male-breadwinner to the adult worker model. Despite the progressivity implied by this latter shift, important issues of gender inequality remain unresolved (even in Nordic countries where levels of gender equity are higher than elsewhere). This paper presents a critical review of social protection policies, examined from a gender perspective. The analysis presents a conceptual framework on gender and the welfare state, and examines the experience of major industrialized and developing countries in engendering social policy. In particular, this paper provides a careful examination of care-related programs, since this domain is particularly important to understanding the gendered effects of social protection policies. Finally, the gendered implications of the global crisis and subsequent policy measures are examined.     

基于产业技术轨道强度特征的科技金融体系研究

提出了金融支持科技创新的概念性框架,从技术轨道强度及其变化的角度探讨了金融在促进技术与经济发展中的功能和规律。在技术轨道强度较弱阶段,政府主导的机构和资本对技术轨道的形成具有重要作用。随着轨道强度逐渐加强,市场导向的金融资本逐渐成为促进技术轨道成形和加速发展的重要推动力量。在技术轨道强度较高的时期,政府的政策导向和规划作用再次凸显出来。通过对4个创新型国家的经济和主要产业技术轨道发展的历史性分析,对理论框架进行了论证,并探讨了相关政策含义。     

Is technology acquisition enough to improve China's product quality? Evidence from firm-level panel data

As developing countries open themselves up to trade, many industrial firms in these countries are finding it difficult to compete internationally due to poor product quality and low product variety. Although China has been the largest producer of crude steel since 1996, China's steel firms have produced an overabundance of low-quality steel while domestic purchasers of steel have increasingly demanded higher quality steel products. Many have argued that for Chinese steel firms to improve product quality they must adopt more advanced technologies. Employing firm-level panel data of steel firms in China, we econometrically test the relative importance of two possible sets of factors affecting a firm's ability to utilize technology to improve product quality: technology acquisition factors and technology absorptive capacity factors. We find that technology complements such as in-house R&D and foreign knowledge must be combined with technology for Chinese firms to improve product quality.     

Cash policy and the bank-firm relationship

Bank health affects a firm's cash holding - a healthy bank can result in either more (because of the influential bank power) or less (because of precautionary motive) firm-level cash holding. Motivated by the contrasting views in the existing literature, this paper investigates whether bank policy determines firm-level cash policy. Using Japanese firm-level data over 2000–2014, we find that the difference in bank health effects stems from the firm's investment status. We find that healthy banks induce growing firms to hold more cash while declining firms hold more cash when borrowing from unhealthy banks. Furthermore, we find that banks with more liquidity also induce their growing borrowers to have more cash. Our results are robust to the endogeneity of bank selection. Our study indicates that bank-firm relationship can serve as an advance-signalling device for a firm's shareholder-wealth-maximizing investments and contributes to the literature that explains the cash holding puzzle.     

政府补贴、行业竞争与企业出口技术复杂度

政府补贴作为经济发展的"有形之手",在我国出口技术结构升级中扮演何种角色呢?其内在影响机制又是如何呢?文章基于中国工业企业数据和中国海关统计数据库,利用倾向得分匹配法(PSM)和倍差法考察了政府补贴和行业竞争对企业出口技术复杂度的影响效应及渠道.研究表明:政府补贴抑制了企业出口技术复杂度的提升,而行业竞争促进了企业出口技术复杂度的提升;不同竞争程度的企业样本中,政府对低竞争行业的企业出口技术复杂度的抑制效应显著高于中高竞争行业,这说明行业竞争度的提高有利于纠正政府补贴对出口技术复杂度的抑制效应.进一步的影响机制分析表明:政府补贴促进出口技术结构升级的渠道为研发激励效应,且这种激励效应只在中高竞争行业样本中是显著存在的;从成本渠道考察发现,政府补贴有利于企业出口价格指数的降低,从而对出口技术复杂度的提升产生显著的成本扭曲效应.文章的结论意味着,不能一味地对企业进行补贴,而应该构建有效的激励机制与成本倒逼机制,让企业通过内生动力而非价格竞争形成企业出口技术复杂度的升级.     

How knowledge flow affects Korean ICT manufacturing firm performance: a focus on open innovation strategy

The paper presents an integrated viewpoint of technological innovation strategy by considering both the firm and industry levels. Further, we provide a new open innovation framework by adopting a knowledge flow perspective using patent citation information. Finally, we consider a firm’s outbound open innovation performance using cites per patent information together with financial performance to look at both the practical and the potential effects of technological innovation strategy. Through these analyses, this study examines determinants of open technology innovation activity in the information and communication technology manufacturing industry in Korea and draws managerial and policy implications for effective industry promotion and improvement of technology innovation capability.